Military Innovations since 1700AD

[WhiteKnight]

I am writing a research paper for a college class. I need write about two military innovations (technology or organizational).

Any ideas?

Right now I'm considering 1) Stoner style rifles (AR) and 2) AK-47.

I have to talk about a) the context into which each emerged b) whether they were successful and c) lasting legacies that they created.

Any ideas?

 

[igor]

Some good pointers on the AK: http://club.guns.ru/eng/

And the AR/M16: http://world.guns.ru/assault/as18-e.htm

 

[Deanimator]

Want a REAL innovation?

Try the radio.

Troops used to march shoulder to shoulder, goosestepping for a reason. It was the only way you could know where your troops were and keep them going in the same direction at the same pace.

With radio you don't actually have to be able to SEE every one of your troops to get them where you want them, when you want them there.

 

[GEM]

War Made New by Max Boot - a scholarly book on technology and the impact of war.

Much deeper analysis of the larger issues of tech. The introduction of the assault rifle is interesting but not that major - unless you want to consider the AK system and its impact across 3rd world violence.

As a prof - go for the big issues of tech rather than some microlevel tacticool stuff. If you do the Ak - then dwell on how it has empowered local violence.

Just a hint from someone who reads papers.

 

[Stickjockey]

How about going more fundamental?

The rifled barrel

The machinegun

Edit: oops. The stirrup was before 1700. Well, so was rifling, but it wasn't in common use in military arms until after 1700.

 

[cwmcgu2]

If you are going to write about the Stoner style rifles (AR platform) and the AK style rifles you will need to do a good bit of research back to World War II. You will want to lay the foundation for the development of each rifle by discussing the lessons learned in WWII about the nature of small arms combat.

Mainly discuss the realization military leaders that most kills for the average rifleman were at much shorter distances (I think the data said it was within 100 yards). As such automatic fire with smaller caliber rounds were superior.

An important element will be the development of the MP44 by the Germans, as it is the grandfather of both weapons you are writing about in terms of the assault rifle concept.

With the AK make sure to mention the simultaneous development of the SKS to highlight the realized advantages of thefull-auto AK and its detachable magazines (Since USSR chose the AK over the SKS and the latter was relegated to production by satelite states such as Yugoslavia).

In discussing the Stoner/AR rifles, make sure to point out the US's reluctance to apply the lessons it learned in WWII about small arms. Make sure to mention the development of the M14 and its failure as a full-auto weapon due to its larger caliber. Also pertanent to this discussion will be the adoption of the 7.62x51mm round by NATO as this was a factor in the US's delay in developing a capable full-auto assault rifle. And lastly when discussing the AR style rifle make sure to clarify the inept handling of it's development by military brass and the reputation for unreliability that developed out of it.

Anyway I think these basic topics should provide a good groundwork for your paper. Most importantly though, if you want to get a good grade you MUST cite numerous, reputable, and accurate sources. Many books I have about firearm history contain unfounded speculation. I'm a history major at the University of Kentucky and in my four years of study thus far I have learned that a paper is only as good as its sources. Good luck!

 

[Zundfolge]

Other excellent topics:
Guerrilla tactics (prior to our revolutionary war, most wars were fought by men standing in rows shooting at each other)
Aircraft
Armored vehicles
GPS
Night Vision
MREs


In actuality, the AK47 and the AR15 really didn't change much ... sure they are both excellent weapon platforms, but their invention and adaptation didn't really change warfare all that much.

 

[Seamusalaska]

Napoleon's ...an army marches on it's belly....Look up the effects of the invention of canned food and other logistics on the efficacy of warfare.

 

[WhiteKnight]

This is indeed macro level stuff (we had a pre 1700 paper and I did Roman roads and Roman frontier fortifications).

Keep 'em coming!

 

[mpmarty]

You may want to "march to a different drum" on this one. In the seventeenth and eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries military planning was done by military men. Prior to that time kings made the plans and handed them down to be executed. In the late nineteenth century and into the present, the true military man faded into the background and plans were once again "handed down" to him to execute by the kings (politicians). There are many fine sources of reference available to this and from Leonidas to Bush there are hundreds of examples throughout history.

 

[Titan6]

Since 1700? That is a lot of ground...

- Penicillin and other drugs (probably the most important)
- Radio
- Television
- Truck, train, tank
- Container ships
- Nuclear weapons
- Chemical weapons
- The ICBM
- Aircraft of all types
- The parachute
- Submarine
- Aircraft carrier
- Night vision devices: thermals, FLIR, NVGs, IR etc
- Cruise missiles
- The professionalization of the NCO corps

The list is literally endless.

 

[cwmcgu2]

New idea, focus on the American Civil War and the development of small arms during that period. Small arms technology developed at a significantly faster rate than during any other conflict in history. The Civil War witnessed the introduction of rifled barrels, breechloading rifles, repeating rifles, and the metal catridge.

 

[WolfMansDad]

Two huge innovations have been long-distance communication and mechanized transport. The prussians were (IIRC) able to sweep through Germany in their wars of unification in the 1880s, largely because they used railroads to move troops around and telegraphs to communicate with them. Everything changed after that.

You history buffs may be able to supply references or, if my memory is flawed, shoot me down.

 

[Vonderek]

lots of innovations to consider:

Minie' ball replacing round ball
breechloading rifles
repeating rifles
metallic cartridges replacing percussion cap system replacing flintlock
rifled cannon
revolving turret
steam powered warships
submarine warfare
etc. etc.

As someone else mentioned, lots occurred around the Civil War.

 

[GEM]

Boot's book stresses the organization development of European armies to the development of modern infantry. Those innovations allowed Western armies during the colonial period to sweep away most non Western opponents - even those with vastly superior manpower and sometimes equivalent firepower.

 

[Titan6]

Left out a couple of huge ones:
- The assembly line (huge)
- The internal combustion engine
- High Carbon Steel
- Titanium
- Smokeless powder
- The dynamo
- barbed wire
- Land mines
- Sonar
- Radar
- Refrigeration
- Computers
- Satellites of all description
- Plastic explosives


300 years is way too broad of a span of time. Just to pick two I would say antibiotic drugs and the assembly line.

Prior to the introduction of drugs the vast majority of losses were not on the battlefield but in the hospital due to infection from wounds or injuries or disease; mostly disease. Drugs greatly reduced that to the point where for large Military units now most losses are accidents followed by battlefield combat losses.

The assembly line made production of materials for war possible on a large scale for the first time. Given enough resources and an assembley line it is very difficult to defeat even a small well organized nation such as Japan, which was able to conquer a population several times it's own size in only a few years.

 

[sb350hp]

How to narrow it down between 1700 and 2007?

How about just going from black powder and a round ball in a cannon to depleted uranium rounds from a tank?

Crossing the river in a rowboat to crossing the ocean in an aircraft carrier

Sending out a single scout versus sending an unmanned drone

etc,etc,etc

This could be one really really long research paper.

 

[junyo]

Organizationally, a wide open topic would be the creation and ascendency of specialized military law, and the way it's altered the nature of the military's role as well as how that role is carried out. I think you can argue that while technological advances merely altered how a tactical or strategic function was accomplished while retaining the same overall goal, the raise of military law and conventions governing the militaries actions have fundamentally altered the goals themselves.

 

[Medusa]

my guess (2 out of many thousands):
1. camouflage - not being seen helps a lot, or be a gentleman, dress in red and be a target for enemy marksman.
2. metal cartridge - either rifle or artillery, it did revolutionize the whole concept of warfare: reach out and touch someone. Gunpowder is very old idea, origins in ancient china.

What kind of rifles were/are used is irrelevant. The fact of using a rifled firearm is a lot more spectacular, IMHO.

 

[plexreticle]

1700 to now is along time.

Military tactics and advances in artillery and aircraft are in the top 10 for sure.

 

[AZTOY]

Look up Baron Von Steuben's, blue book .

The first Army field manual.

 

[Sunray]

If I was doing it, it'd be about how warfare has come full circle. Prior to W.W. I, with the U.S. Civil War being somewhat of an anomaly, wars were fought by small professional armies who went off to fight with there being little effect on the civilian population at home. We're back to that now.
For the other, have a look at how Japan went from matchlock technology to bolt action repeaters at the end of the 19th Century.
Or the developement of logistics. Actually providing food and medical care instead of expecting the troopies to live off the land.
Mind you, continuing your previous theme of roads and fortifications might be an idea too.

 

[obxned]

Sanitation has got to rank high in the list of developments. Check the figures on the number of non-combat deaths in the Revolution, Civil, and First World War.

For example, more people died in the Civil War from dysentery than the mimie-ball.

 

[pdowg881]

Rifling
and canned food

 

[TimboKhan]

I think there are a lot of good suggestions on here that are way better than just doing those 2 rifles. I know it would be more interesting for you, but really, neither of those rifles is particularly innovative when you look at the big picture. Good rifles with long service histories and wide dessimination, but they are still just rifles, and essentially do nothing different than a minie ball in a rifled barrel. If it were me, and it's obviously not, I would think about talking about aircraft and communications. Both are obviously hugely important, and both have a lot of different angles you could research.